ToB - tell us your ultimate parcours

Following on from the Rate The Race thread, what stages would people really, really like to see added to future editions of the ToB?

The top 5 on my wish list are:

1. Isle of Man TT loop x 3 or 4

I think this is a very likely thing to happen in the next few years. Mike Bennett loves Cavendish and the support he has given the race, hence I think this will happen soon as a thank you.

2. MTF on Great Dunn Fell.

It's our biggest climb, it's a shame not to use it. You'd be guaranteed people travelling from all over to see it.

3. Finish on Edinburgh Castle esplanade.

We don't have proper pave or strade bianchi type roads, however the cobbles of Edinburgh are the brutal - and picturesque! Likelyhood of it happening = nil because unlike glasgow who are willing to spend money on these types of events, Edinburgh City Council would want a fortune to close their roads.

4. Pitlochry, Glenshee, Lecht, Cairngorm.

Probably the highest and toughest route they could do in UK. Features 3 of the top 5 highest roads in UK.
Unlikely to happen because relatively no-one lives on the route and Sweetspot appear to think anywhere north of Glasgow "be dragons".

Posts

One day they'll come to the North East and play on the roads between Weardale and Teesdale, start in Darlington, end in Durham. A real Ardenne style stage, Chapel Fell which I think is the highest public road in England would make a nice feature!

mod 1b after joining the A66 straight ahead to whinlatter cutting out Honister and newlands

about 190km with short cut

Other option

option 2

starts in Penrith on A66 on wide roads to allow breaks to start safely. straight onto Keswick. Then joins fred route again, less need to shorten route than option 1

155k but brutal

"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm

Slightly off topic, but I like the Isle of Man TT idea. Good setting for World Champs?

Used to get used regularly for the Manx International (and National Champs at least once in the 90s won by Brian Smith if my memory is working). Cracking race on fully closed roads over 3 laps, grandstand for the finish, no complaining locals as they understand the importance of tourism and the money events like that bring in unlike Surrey!

As Blazing Saddles has said elsewhere a South Wales stage taking in Llangynidr Mountain and a MTF at the top of the Blorenge would be great and workable. You could probably build in climbs such as the Bwlch and Rhigos with a Cardiff start.

Another great stage would be one taking in the Devil's Staircase and Bwlch y Groes but the narrow roads would make it impractical with the crowds it would attract.

It would be nice to get a coastal stage around Cornwall and to balance the climbing maybe a stage up the Suffolk and Norfolk coast and hope the wind blows.

I don't know northern England and Scotland well enough but no doubt there would be plenty of options there such as a proper Lake District route along similar lines to the Whitton or a hill climb on Hardknott :twisted:

I'd like to see a nod to the burgeoning sportive scene in the UK - they've done it by including a "10" - as above, I'd like to see

1) a Fred Whitton based route and also
2) a Chiltern 100 based route which in itself tips a nod to the Archer Grand Prix. You could make a real censored of a route through
3) the North Yorks Moors with a climb up Rosedale Chimney which would be "nice".
4) North Wales with Horseshoe pass and all the climbs round Llangollen would be good. A race with a finish in
5) Lincoln up Michaelgate would make great viewing.
6) London - Brighton and back via Brighton sea front going up Ditchling and the backside of Steyning on the way back would be nice.

My own personal favourite would be a Devon/Cornish Coastal stage. Start in Minehead (or similar) and hug the coast - Dunkery Beacon, Porlock, Callacombe, hope the wind blows to cause more havoc and end at the top of Boscastle having made them ride Milook, Crackington Haven and all the horrible lumpy stuff round there. You could do a cracking route of about 120 miles that would really hurt.

It's our biggest climb, it's a shame not to use it. You'd be guaranteed people travelling from all over to see it.

This. Love to see the pro's tackle it. Still find it mad that our highest climb takes a decent amateur ~40 minutes.

Night time last stage finish in Blackpool during the illuminations? Then compulsory rider and fan night out in the Syndicate nightclub, followed by the only appropriate end to any night out in Blackpool, a salmonella Kebab and a massive punch up.

Following on from the Rate The Race thread, what stages would people really, really like to see added to future editions of the ToB?
1. Isle of Man TT loop x 3 or 4
2. MTF on Great Dunn Fell.
3. Finish on Edinburgh Castle esplanade.

Great ideas.
I'd also love to see them tackle some of West Yorkshire's cobbled climbs (say Thwaites Brow and Hainworth Lane out of Keighley, Gibb Lane North of Halifax, and finish after Woodhouse Lane in Halifax (Trooper Lane would be cool, but let's take it one step at a time )).

A proper Peak District stage including Holme Moss and Winnats Pass and finish in Sheffield after Fiddler's Elbow.

A hilly coastal Cornish stage. Why stop at Devon?

You can't cram a one week race too full with hilly stages, but this thread has enough for exciting tours for the next decade or so

You don't need big mountains to have big climbs. Great Dunn Fell has a similar amount of ascent to climbs that are rated category 1 in the Tour de France, such as the Aspin or the Peyresourde. The only difference being that Great Dunn Fell has sections above 20%!

It'd be a great addition to the Tour of Britain, providing they could get permission to use it and work out the logistics.

Not enough people in the area and the major tourist 'arteries' would need to be closed but... A route that winds up Glencoe, heads north up to Glengarry, and then a mountain top finish on the Bealach Na Ba. Would go past things like Eilean Donan so the helicopters would have something to do.

I can finally spill the beans that I've been holding these past 2 weeks.
Official announcement today that Abergavenny to host next year's UK championships.
Tumble time.

Yep, been biting my tongue for a while too. I'm hoping they build the Tumble in later than it was in the Grand Prix of Wales though as it would be good to make it decisive. Maybe Bill can be tempted to have that MTF I'm not a big fan of the finish circuit but I guess it keeps people in the town.

Following on from the Rate The Race thread, what stages would people really, really like to see added to future editions of the ToB?

The top 5 on my wish list are:

1. Isle of Man TT loop x 3 or 4

I think this is a very likely thing to happen in the next few years. Mike Bennett loves Cavendish and the support he has given the race, hence I think this will happen soon as a thank you.

2. MTF on Great Dunn Fell.

It's our biggest climb, it's a shame not to use it. You'd be guaranteed people travelling from all over to see it.

3. Finish on Edinburgh Castle esplanade.

We don't have proper pave or strade bianchi type roads, however the cobbles of Edinburgh are the brutal - and picturesque! Likelyhood of it happening = nil because unlike glasgow who are willing to spend money on these types of events, Edinburgh City Council would want a fortune to close their roads.

4. Pitlochry, Glenshee, Lecht, Cairngorm.

Probably the highest and toughest route they could do in UK. Features 3 of the top 5 highest roads in UK.
Unlikely to happen because relatively no-one lives on the route and Sweetspot appear to think anywhere north of Glasgow "be dragons".

5. TTT round Silverstone.

It would be epic. Never gonna happen, but epic.

I've briefly brought this back to life because I have decided to organise a sportive over this route for Sunday 1st June 2014. Hopefully the powers that be will see how fantastic it is and incorporate it into a future ToB

Looks a cracking route. I'm slightly surprised how 'little' climbing there is considering. I guess it is due to the whole route being fairly high up. By comparison I just looked at my data from the Tour of the Black Mountains last year, Strava didn't start recording until I reached the top of Gospel Pass (highest road in Wales) but the final 75 miles had a very similar amount of climbing to your route with 2 or 3 decent climbs. The rest was just made up of constant undulations and climbs of a mile or so.

I think the Manx road club have a TT on their moto TT course and Kennaugh did it in about 1.27? or was that roacheys time? they could have that as a TT stage, must be some good road for big races over there and I'm sure it would be welcomed with there being several Manx riders that would be in the race. How about one the the stages being the cicle classic route? be good to see top top guys riding that